B’nai B’rith International condemns the latest act of the terror that unfolded in eastern Paris today, where a terrorist suspected of killing a police officer yesterday, shot and killed four people, wounded many more and held at least five hostages inside a kosher market. Police recently stormed the market, freeing the surviving hostages and killing the gunman.

The terrorist is reported to be Amedy Coulibaly who is being linked to the men who stormed the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people. Those assailants were killed in a simultaneous raid on a printing business where they also held a hostage who was eventually freed.

Today’s terrorizing of a kosher market is not just an attack on Jews, but a reprehensible assault on free societies everywhere. We applaud French authorities for acting swiftly and decisively, avoiding further innocent bloodshed when neutralizing the attacker. At the same time, our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the victims.